Chapter 282 Emperor Hengjing: Glory built on ruins
[Outside, in the prosperous capital city, the stars are falling, music and music are everywhere, but you are fighting at night in the yamen of the Ministry of War with documents and documents that are overwhelming the sky.]
[After His Majesty succeeded to the throne, the importance of the Ministry of War has skyrocketed, and its status among the six ministries is second only to the Ministry of Personnel. The Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is also known as "Tianguan" or "Otsuka Zai", and the Minister of the Ministry of War is also known as "Xiaguan" or "Xiaguan"
It's "Da Sima".]
[Today, among the six ministries, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Household Affairs are called the upper three ministries, while the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Work are called the lower three ministries.]
[Needless to say, the Ministry of Personnel, which is responsible for the transfer of officials, has always been the head of the six departments. Except for the Ministry of Personnel, most of the other five departments have different orders due to different dynasties. Although the Ministry of Revenue is in charge of the world's money,
Since taxation has now been stripped away and placed under the management of the Supervisory Tax Institute, its actual power has greatly declined. The reason why it is ranked in the top three is because the three prime ministers and assistants of the Hengjing Dynasty also were in charge of the household department.]
[Xia Yuanji, the first minister of the Hengjing Dynasty, was from the Ministry of Household Affairs. The chief minister of the cabinet also served as the six ministers. This was the first of the Ming Dynasty and the first minister of the Ming Dynasty in the true sense. The two subsequent cabinets
Zaifu, Yang Rong, and Su Wu all became the chief ministers of the cabinet after taking over the Ministry of Household Affairs.]
[The reason why the Ministry of War ranks among the top three, and even beats the Ministry of Household Affairs, is because after His Majesty Emperor Hengjing ascended the throne, the Ming Dynasty's external expansion has been too fast. In just nine years, the territory of the Ming Dynasty has been almost
Twice that of the Hongwu Dynasty!]
[As the country becomes more and more vast, the people who benefit the most are the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of War. The more vast the country is, the more officials and armies in the world need to expand. In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, the total number of armies in the country was 280
One hundred thousand, this is an extremely astonishing number.】
[The Han Dynasty at its peak had a maximum total strength of 700,000 troops. However, throughout the Han Dynasty, the standing troops were only maintained at around 300,000. The powerful Tang Dynasty had only 300,000 standing troops nationwide; it accounted for 70% of the national fiscal revenue.
The Northern Song Dynasty, which had a large number of people devoted to the army, had less than 1.3 million soldiers at its peak; as for the Southern Song Dynasty, which lost a lot of territory, the national military strength remained at about 400,000 people.]
[The combined total military strength of the Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Northern Song Dynasty, and Southern Song Dynasty was 2.7 million. The total military strength of the four dynasties was less than the more than 2.8 million of the Hongwu Dynasty. However, in today's Hengjing Dynasty, the standing army
It’s 6.5 million.]
[Six million and a half million, this is the number after a major disarmament. Before the major disarmament, the Ming Dynasty’s national army was probably close to eight million. 】
"What the hell?"
Even if it was Zhu Di, he couldn't help but be shocked at this time.
The total strength of the country is 8 million!
What kind of number is this?!
The national military strength of the Hengjing Dynasty was one-fifth of the total population of the Yongle Dynasty?
When the Hongwu Dynasty was founded, the total population of the Ming Dynasty was about 60 million. By the second year of Yongle, the population had grown to 50 million. This was a bad result of the Jingnan Campaign. A battlefield that greatly damaged the vitality of the Ming Dynasty.
.
Under Zhu Di's conscientious governance, by the tenth year of Yongle, the total population of the Ming Dynasty had returned to 65 million. However, after the statistics of the eleventh year of Yongle, it suddenly dropped to 51 million. Because someone was lying about the population.
, this kind of thing has become commonplace. Local governments reduce taxes by concealing their population. This is the general trend. Although Zhu Di tried his best to save it, it was still to no avail.
Fortunately, Zhu Gaojiu established the Tax Supervision Institute and reformed the tax system. This phenomenon was slightly alleviated. Because local forces discovered that even if they concealed their population, they still needed to pay taxes to the court under the pressure of the Tax Supervision Institute, and the black tax rate was higher than that of white taxes.
The taxes are much higher, so why bother hiding the population? It would be better to just pay the taxes openly.
Therefore, in just half a year after the establishment of the Tax Supervisory Academy, the total population of the Yongle Dynasty surged to more than 70 million!
Even though the total population has increased, Hengjing Dynasty's total force of eight million is still terrifying. This is a suffocating number. How can the imperial court afford a total force of eight million? How can it manage it?
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, conquests have been continuous, so the total military strength of the country has remained high. Zhu Di originally thought that a total military strength of two to three million would be the limit, because once this number was exceeded, the Ming Dynasty's national power would simply not be able to bear it.
Even going out of control!
Once the total military strength of the country exceeds the limit, it will lead to irreversible destruction. Doesn't Zhu Gaojie know this truth?
Zhu Di was puzzled and could only read on patiently.
[The war brought huge disasters. Countless people were displaced during the war. The flames of war flew across the fields like a tide of locusts, leaving no grass growing in their path. Countless people died in the war. Not only the military suffered battle losses, but more people died.
Or civilians.]
[Although His Majesty has never massacred civilians, war is still a war. In the flames of war, civilians will always die the most. When the Ming Dynasty's army faces foreigners, it is impossible to kill civilians in order to avoid the death of enemy civilians.
Delay your own fighting opportunities.]
[In the first year of Hengjing, Emperor Hengjing, who had just succeeded to the throne, launched a war and declared war on the Great Luo Kingdom. At that time, you did not understand the new emperor's thoughts and thought that His Majesty was a faint emperor who was overjoyed in his achievements.
I would like to persuade Your Majesty to restrain his warlike heart, start a new era with the people, and be kind to the world!]
[The new emperor at that time carefully read your memorials and summoned you to the palace to meet the emperor. You thought that the emperor suddenly realized that the prodigal son had turned back. You regarded yourself as Wei Zheng of the Tang Dynasty, and your Majesty as Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.
I happily entered the palace to pay my respects. However, what awaits you is not the emperor's favor, but ruthless dismissal.】
[The new emperor deprived you of all your positions. After the Da Luo Kingdom was destroyed by the Ming army, Tianzhu Province was reorganized and you were asked to serve as a minor official in the Tianzhu Provincial Envoy Department.]
[That period was the darkest time in your life. You felt that you were not born at the right time. Although you had great ambitions, you could not afford to be depressed. Hengjing, a foolish man, was blind and unable to recognize people. During that period, you drank excessively and indulged in alcoholism all day long.
In the midst of drunken life and dream of death.]
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! [However, Yu Qian is Yu Qian after all. It didn’t take long for you to become angry again. Emperor Hengjing demoted you to be a minor official, so you can be a minor official.
, you want to be the best official in the world! You don’t want to prove anything to the world or Emperor Hengjing, you just want to be yourself and be your ideal self.]
When Zhu Di saw this, he sighed.
Yu Qian is a talent, but it's a pity that he is still too immature.
Judging from Zhu Di's understanding of Zhu Gaojie, this boy is by no means a man who enjoys great achievements. He is a man who has reached the extreme level of intrigue and scheming. When the new emperor ascended the throne and went out on an expedition, he announced to the world that the Ming Dynasty had lost Emperor Yongle, but
The Ming Dynasty did not suffer from this. The new emperor was still the wisest and most heroic emperor, trying to calm the hearts of the people in the world and boost the national prestige of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, the premise is that the emperor is really capable, otherwise he should just stay at home and stay at home. There is no shame in being a stay at home, but it is shameful to lose the battle just after he ascends the throne.
Obviously, Zhu Gaojie belongs to the type of emperor who is really capable.
Yu Qian was too young to see this. He looked up to the "Emperor" from the perspective of a "people", and in the end he only saw the clouds and mist enveloping him and could not see the top of the mountain.
If nothing unexpected happens, he will probably stop here in his life and pay a heavy price for his youthful vigor...
etc!
Zhu Di suddenly realized a problem: Yu Qian was demoted to a minor official in the first year of Hengjing, but Yu Qian in the ninth year of Hengjing was an important official in the imperial court as Minister of War.
How did he do that?
In the previous two simulations of Zhu Gaojie's identity as Emperor Hengjing, the first time was when Zhu Gaojiu was the emperor when he first came to the throne, and the second time was when Zhu Gaojia in his later years was paving the way for the successor of the empire. In both simulations, Zhu Di's eyes were only limited to Zhu Gaojia.
How powerful the Ming Dynasty became after taking the throne.
The simulation of Yu Qian this time took place in the early and middle periods of the Hengjing Dynasty, during the construction period. From Yu Qian's perspective, he could appreciate more of the development path of the empire.
This is a completely different experience. The first two times he simulated the Hengjing Dynasty, he felt very proud and at ease. But this time, he felt completely outrageous.
Off the charts!
How did Zhu Gaojie do these things?
This is no longer as simple as pulling out a seedling to encourage it to grow, he is throwing out a seed, and letting the seed take root and sprout the next day and quickly grow into a towering tree for him to pick the fruit.
If it were another emperor in another dynasty, such troubles would not only make the country develop rapidly, but also make the country decline rapidly!
However, in the hands of Zhu Gaojie, the Ming Dynasty did not decline because it moved too fast. Instead, it successfully climbed to the top again and again in a puzzling way!
[You have been a petty official in Tianzhu Province for three years. Three years of hard work have transformed you from a high-spirited madman to a steady official. In these three years, you have inspected every piece of land in Tianzhu Province. You are amazed.
You have discovered that the Daluo Kingdom after it was overthrown by the Ming Dynasty is very different from what you imagined.】
[The Ming Dynasty destroyed the Da Luo Kingdom, but also established a glorious Tianzhu Province on the ruins of the Da Luo Kingdom. In just three years, the Ming Dynasty established one system after another in Tianzhu. What the imperial court did
What they did was not only to continuously establish Chinese language colleges and implement assimilation, but simple brainwashing cannot solve the problem. They brought Tianzhu Province to a new level, allowing Tianzhu people to live a prosperous life that they could not even imagine before.
】
【Destruction is the rebirth of redemption.】
[But as you want to understand these things, your character becomes more and more calm, and you are determined to do your job well. You feel that there is nothing wrong with being a minor official. You gave up the Confucianism that you have accepted since childhood, because you feel that Confucianism is useful.
It can be said that he is absolutely useless in doing practical things. Everything your Majesty does today runs counter to Confucianism, but Confucianism pales in comparison to His Majesty’s thoughts.]
【If there is a god in the world, then this god will only be Emperor Hengjing.】
[In the fourth year of Hengjing, His Majesty suddenly issued an order to recall you from Tianzhu Province to Beijing and promote you to the rank of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War.]
[This can be said to be a step to the sky. When you return to the capital and face the Holy Spirit, you bow your head to His Majesty from the bottom of your heart. 】
[You realize now that His Majesty was not angry because of your superiority and wanted to hide you in the snow. He valued your talents and allowed you to hone them in Tianzhu Province. You have gained so much in these three years that you can even
It is said that "Tianzhu enlightened and transformed into an immortal."]
[You no longer have any complaints against His Majesty in your heart, but revere him as if you were looking up to a god.]
[The second year after you were promoted to the left minister of the Ministry of War, the Minister of the Ministry of War retired and returned to his hometown. You took over the position of the Minister and became the new leader of the Ministry of War. 】
Zhu Di praised: "Good boy, it turns out you are playing this trick with me."
After reading the ins and outs of Yu Qian's five years as an official in the Hengjing Dynasty, Zhu Di finally understood Zhu Gaojie's masterful way of serving.
At first it seemed that Yu Qian was hiding in the snow, but in fact he was tempered. In the end, the rebellious and frivolous Yu Qian was forged into a steady sharp blade, which made Yu Qian return to his heart.
Absolutely amazing!
[You were reviewing documents at the Ministry of War when you suddenly heard footsteps. When you looked back, you saw that it was His Majesty who had arrived unannounced. ]
[His Majesty is wearing a red dragon robe, with his hands clasped behind his back. He is even more majestic in his prime of life. However, in your eyes, His Majesty is very kind-hearted. You quickly saluted and said, "I don't know if your Majesty arrived at a distance to greet you."
, I hope your majesty will forgive me.”]
"It's okay." His Majesty said with a smile, "I was just passing by and saw your Ministry of War Yamen was brightly lit, so I came in to take a look. I didn't expect Yu Qing to stay up late and fight at night during the Lantern Festival. I was very relieved, but it was time to rest.
You still need to rest, don’t overwork your body. Yu Qing is a wise minister and the cornerstone of the dynasty. Besides, you are still young, so you should put your health first."]
[When you heard this, you were a little flattered and a little confused.]
[You are flattered because of His Majesty's love and praise, and you are confused... because you think that today is the Lantern Festival, and every year during the Lantern Festival, His Majesty's schedule should be fully arranged, and he should lead the inner palace from the second update onwards.
The middle-aged man took a small car to the gate tower of Xuandemen to view Aoshan Mountain. After that, he had to make a series of arrangements, and it was impossible to have time to pass by the Bingbu Yamen. What's more, even if he looked at the main entrance of the Bingbu Yamen, he couldn't see himself.
The lights are still on in the office room.]
[This can only mean one thing, that is, His Majesty took the time to come to the Ministry of War, and he came just to see you. 】
[Thinking of these, you feel as if your feet are flying off the ground all over, and your thoughts are flying to the moon to stand side by side with Chang'e. Your Majesty actually misses you and comes to visit you during this Lantern Festival. How grand is this?
kindness!】
[But your thinking, Yu Qian, is very different from that of ordinary people. If it were anyone else who was so valued by His Majesty, he would just kneel down and thank him on the spot to show his loyalty and act like a horse with a thousand li and a Bolechen who is willing to bow to His Majesty and die.
However, after you reacted, you picked up the paperwork and asked His Majesty for instructions on the work.]
[Just kidding, gratitude comes second, work comes first.]
[There is no point in talking nonsense. Two more facts are the greatest reward for His Majesty.]
[You hold the document and say seriously: "I have a few things that I don't understand. Please give me your Majesty's instructions..."]